Faith, Shame, Gangstas and Gladiators!

God doesn’t want you to be embarrassed to put your faith in Him. He doesn’t want you to look like a fool waiting for some magical creature to come down your chimney and leave your rent money in socks you left hanging to dry by your fireplace.

 

Here's a pretty hardcore Scripture I found tonight. And a few other ones to back it up, yo!

 

“If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” [1 Cor  15: 32]

-This should be in a gladiator movie or something. Just saying.

 

**This is all about having faith... in the very core of what we as “Christians” believe in.. the resurrection. What is the advantage of being a follower of Jesus if you don’t have any faith that He is who He says He is? The son of God. Resurrected from the dead? Sitting, right now, on the throne of heaven.

>>Having a problem with your faith? Note Hebrews 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” AUTHOR.. FINISHER.. of our faith… pretty cool<<

 “So, Sarah, what you’re saying to me is that Jesus can give me faith that I don’t have… to believe in spiritual things… relating to Him?” Why, yes, yes I am. [Note Phineas and Ferb reference or you suck.] “Looking unto Jesus.” -That’s where I start every time I need help in that area. I grab my Bible and decide to get to know Him more. Spend some more time with Him. Study Him. Learn His characteristics. Think about the last time you were infatuated with someone.. You kind of studied them.. You at least learned about them in an intentional way, right? Where did they like to go on a regular basis? What did they like to do? Who did they hang with? etc…

Now, refer to 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds may somehow be lured away from the simplicity that is in Christ.” SIMPLICITY… It’s SO simple, yet we make it SO complicated… with our rules and our doctrine and our religious practices. Just space out for a minute…. “simplicity that is in Christ.” It’s not supposed to be complicated.

 

“… whoever believes in Him will never be ashamed.” [1 Peter 2: 6]

**That last word in its original Greek form- kataischuno: disgrace or (by implication) put to the blush, to shame down, confound, or dishonor.

 

So don’t be afraid to put your trust in Him. Don’t be afraid that you’ll end up looking foolish waiting around and hoping for something that will never come. When it looks like nothing is possible, that failure is imminent, that’s when God seems to move in the greatest way. Maybe it’s because that’s when we’ve finally surrendered and allowed Him to. Regardless the reason, one thing is for sure, when we are in that place of desolation, His name is surely glorified above any other name when a way is made where there was no way before. When there is no possible way that we could make it on our own, and He steps in and rescues us, there is no doubt that a Divine intervention has taken place. Our lives are the testimony. Some of you know. :) Some of you have experienced it. In that way, when we are weak, then we are strong.. because when our circumstances are screaming, “NO, NO, YOU CAN’T!!” I promise you, there’s an invitation.. God’s gentle whisper, “but I can.”

 

Guilt vs. Grace

My beloved, why is it that we keep returning to that which first caused us to be ashamed? That which caused us guilt and condemnation? That which first hurt us? Do you not know? Where sin abounds, grace super abounds. Stop feeling like you don’t deserve better. Stop going back there.

Your attitude should be, wow… okay. That was wrong. My heart’s repentant, but now I’m in a place where I can walk in a super abundance of Grace! Praise God! When I’m relying on my own good actions and good karma to make it through the day, I’m not walking in a realm where Grace can super abound me.

What then? Should I make sure to purposely screw up so that I can walk under Grace? Haha.. no. I think we’ve all got that covered, regardless of whether we try. The Bible says if you’ve hated someone, or thought hateful thoughts toward someone, you’ve murdered them. I think hateful thoughts all the time while I’m in traffic. Just because I’ve learned to cap my actions, doesn’t mean I’ve learned to control my thoughts yet. ;) And if you’ve lusted after another man’s wife (or woman’s husband) you’ve committed adultery… God gave us the law, this perfect law, not to bring us guilt and show us how horrible we were, but to show us how perfect He is, how just He is, and how we could never measure up to His justice by our human standards. Which is beautiful!! Because we can be in the realm of super abounding Grace on a constant basis because of this!! If we were righteous by ourselves, grace wouldn’t super abound us. And since it’s by the Grace of God that we are redeemed and justified, nothing you or I do changes it. Our identity is found in that. So when we really mess up, it doesn’t change who we are. So it shouldn’t change how we view ourselves, because it doesn’t change how He views us. We can still come before this perfect, just, and Holy God, who can’t even look up sin, and He will call us “my son, my daughter” and treat us as such. :)

So does that mean I have a “Grace card” or a license to do whatever I want? “I’m going to be forgiven so I might as well just live my life for me?” Well, let me tell you something about my children first.. These past few months, I’ve put forth a big effort to show them agape love… an unconditional love. The love I feel from God. And then I try to teach them, “you know I how would still love you even if you …. [whatever they did wrong] … ? or You know how you can always come to me and ask me for something if you need it and you know I will always give it to you?  Well, baby, God’s the same way. He’s like your parent. And you’re a child of God, despite what you’re feeling, the Bible says …. [whatever the case may be… God has not given you a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind 2 Tim 1:7… etc.] I tell my kids daily, “Do you know that I love you?” My patience has been growing lately too! I’ve been teaching and correcting out of love!! Daily I tell them, “Do you know that there is NOTHING you can do that will make me love you any less?” And they know it. And you know what they do? They strive to do better. They work harder. You see, when all fear of condemnation is gone, when it’s a relationship of love, when you are set free from guilt, you don’t want to sin any more. And by sin, I mean anything that violates these two commandments from Jesus- Firstly, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, then love your neighbor as you love yourself. Plain and simple. Everything else is religion, which is not from God. It’s a snare, a trap. Something to keep you from experiencing the freedom there is in the fullness of God’s grace and love.

So if you find yourself returning to something that is causing you to feel guilt. Stop it. You don’t have to suffer. Jesus already suffered all the consequences. He overcame. Grace overcame. Start feeling super abounding grace instead. Start saying, praise God that I’m here right now, because now I can I can stop worrying about whether or not my own righteousness is going to make my life good or bad in the future, and now I can be in a place of super abounding grace! What an amazing place to be. I couldn’t be there before, but now I can. This isn’t the race- you’re not trying to win.. This is the victory lap. If victory is Mine sayeth the Lord, that means the battle is His. We may, in the flesh, not want to give Him the victory always, [what?! I worked my butt off for that and now I have to give God the victory??] but if victory is His, then the battle is His. If the battle is His, that means I don’t have to fight it. And we know from examples, like Calvary, that God is not a loser. He is always victorious. So if the battle is His, He is going to win it. So He will always be victorious. Therefore I will always be victorious!! :) If the victory is His, the battle is His. If the battle is His, it’s going to be victory! Okay God, lol, you can have the victory!!! Haha! All glory to you. Thank you, Jesus!